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Devils set for
kick-off in Mid-Sussex
Devils kick-off a
new era this Saturday (4th September) when the club starts its
first season in the Mid-Sussex Football League with a home game
against Haywards Heath based side Heath Rangers.
A decade ago the
closure of a thriving Crawley & District League would have been
unthinkable however its end after the 2009/2010 season should
now undoubtedly benefit Crawley teams who have now all been
placed in more competitive, better balanced and better organised
set-ups in either the Mid-Sussex or West Sussex Leagues. One of
the characteristics of the Crawley League's last few seasons was
a declining number of clubs and thus teams of dramatically
differing quality often found themselves competing in the same
division. Certainly in Mid-Sussex with eleven divisions for
2010/2011 there should be a very level playing field within each
division. That should help Devils this season and overall,
moving to Mid-Sussex, with new teams to play and actual travel
to away games (rather than just moving to a different pitch at
Cherry Lane) should make for an enjoyable season over the next
eight months. Ironically however, Devils won't actually
experience much extra travelling for a while as three of the
first four league games plus the 1st Round Sussex Cup tie are at
home and the one away match in this period is at Copthorne on
the fringes of Crawley.
Devils welcome a new
manager in Lloyd Foreman and a host of new players for the
2010/2011 season. Lloyd looks to have done a good job over the
summer with priority number one on his check list which would
have been to increase the number of committed players in the
squad. Devils ended last season in a not too healthy position as
twelve successive defeats with a playing squad well short of
numbers saw the team end sixth in a comparatively weak Division
2, despite a promising start before Christmas. This time around
all pre-season friendlies have been well attended and the early
signs are that numbers won't be a problem this time around.
Priority number two
would have been to improve the quality of the squad and the
first few games this season should give an insight into whether
this has been achieved. With lots of new signings it's hard to
judge in pre-season and the first competitive match on Saturday
should give an early indication as Devils meet Heath Rangers.
The two sides met in a friendly in August 2009 which was drawn
3-3. Devils played well on that occasion however Heath led 3-1
till Steve Crook's late double earned Devils a draw. After that
both teams started their respective seasons quite well. Devils
were on the fringes of the top half till the weather enforced
winter break while Heath were unbeaten in their first six and
also well placed before the two month winter lay-off. After
Christmas, Devils fell away dramatically and Heath also slipped
back to eventually finish 7th of 10 after their promising start.
With a year passed and different playing personnel on both sides
the previous meeting has little relevance however it is probably
fair to say that on paper the opener should be a close game.
Certainly for Devils, against a side who are an established team
in Division 10 of Mid-Sussex it should give a decent indication
of prospects for the season.
New Season Ins &
Outs:
In: Dan Baete,
Mick Belt, Owen Brown, Jason Broyer, Carl Garner, Tyrone
Harfield, Shane Powell, Marco Quasimodo, Marcus Rushton, Scott
Taylor-Baker, Chris Townsend, Andrew Trevett, Ravi Vera.
Out: Dave
Frampton, Phil Jackson, Chris Laker, Phil Laker, David Leake,
Paul Eagle, Carl McEwan, Aaron Chenery, Brian Weller. |
Sporting Devils Football Club
